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ST. JOHNS — Those early years in the St. Johns wrestling room played with Bret Fedewa's psyche.

Since second grade, Fedewa had aspirations of wrestling at a Division I level, but preparing daily with the top-tier talent that has helped the Redwings become a state mainstay left him wondering if he would ever be mentioned among the program's elite.

"Looking at all of the people in the room that were going Division I, I didn't think I would ever get that good," Fedewa said. "It was always a dream, but it was always kind of far off."

Fast forward two years later and not only will Fedewa leave St. Johns with one of the best seasons in school history, he'll walk away with his dream, now, as a reality.

On Monday, the senior, who captured the 152-pound Division 2 individual state championship in March, signed his national letter of intent to wrestle at Central Michigan.

"Looking back at (my career), I was always told if you practiced hard, had good partners, and wrestled as hard as you can that good things would happen," Fedewa said. "To finally see it come together feels good."

Fedewa posted a 167-40 record during his high school career. He finished his senior season by going 53-0 on his way to the 152-pound title. It was toward the end of the year when Fedewa felt like he had added to the program's legacy. He was St. Johns' only individual state champion this season, which gave the team its ninth straight season of having at least one title holder.

The college interest began to pick up once Fedewa won his state title. He also held Division I offers from Michigan State and Eastern Michigan.

"Getting that state title means a lot," he added. "It was a building block for the next step.

"(CMU) has a really good coaching staff, and I felt like it was a good fit for me. Academically and athletically, I felt like it was a good fit."

Contact James L. Edwards III at jledwards@lsj.com. Follow him on Twitter @JLEdwardsIII.